The Imperceptible Woman, Part 1
The rain is falling sideways.
Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.
No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.
Part 1
The whole idea sounded pretentious, but Alyssa had no choice. Her boss had decreed that she attend the Olympus Dental Hygiene Symposium, the name of which implied superiority over any number of online learning options. Alyssa would have happily taken an online course or watched a recorded lecture. She felt no need to devote an entire day to a symposium. The very word punctured her eardrums.
Alyssa was alone in her disdain. She headed down the sidewalk alongside two co-workers, Crystal and Bonita, both of whom looked forward to the day ahead. Crystal’s resting smile was as broad as ever.
“This one looks good,” Crystal said, browsing the agenda on her phone. “A session on treating patients with chronic illnesses.”
“They have great options every year.” Bonita didn’t need to lower her eyes to any phone. The seasoned hygienist had memorized much of the agenda. Alyssa heard the options wrestling with each other as Bonita mentally mapped out her day. “The radiology lecture seems especially timely.”
Alyssa had noticed that one too: Minimizing the Risk of Accidental Physical Enhancements During Imaging Scans. Or, in other words, how not to inadvertently give patients super-powers while taking X-rays of their teeth, as if anyone knew a surefire way of avoiding that. It wasn’t a common occurrence—only one documented instance so far, and it didn’t occur at Apollo Family Dentistry.
Perhaps that was something the symposium had going for it. It would be so boring and mundane that it couldn’t possibly give rise to any new super-powered offender. The event would be peaceful—on the surface, anyway.
Alyssa dreaded a day of needing to tune out chattering thoughts from all directions. Each lecture would be like a movie theater with a rowdy crowd, constantly interrupting, never shutting up, and Alyssa couldn’t even hush anyone because she needed to pretend not to hear them in the first place.
Busy streets were easier to tune out. Though numerous people surrounded her, their thoughts blended in with the various traffic noises and conversations. She had grown accustomed to this particular din. So, for now, she enjoyed the sunshine and pleasant weather before having to disappear into the Parthenon for the next seven hours—that would be the local convention center Parthenon, not the Ancient Greek temple Parthenon. It was not difficult to distinguish the two.
Alyssa seldom ventured into the business district at the center of Olympus City, where the tallest skyscrapers dominated the skyline, but she used to spend time on those rooftops during her brief stint as the Silver Stranger. She’d wind her special watch and teleport up to one, and from there she’d scan the city telepathically, seeking out trouble and often finding something.
Trouble had found her just last week, had found everyone, forcing her to bring the Silver Stranger out of retirement. Alyssa had helped save the day. It should have been a wonderful feeling. Her bare wrist itched.
A raindrop hit her forehead. Another fell from the blue sky.
Bonita glanced up in confusion. “Didn’t think they were calling for rain today.”
The next raindrop hit Alyssa between her nose and lips, and that’s when she realized it was raining sideways.
“We’re almost there,” Crystal said, wondering how it could rain without clouds, fearing it might be something more than rain. Her smile stretched in denial. “Maybe it will hold off long enough.”
Pedestrians looked up and pointed as a blur of emerald and scarlet streaked between the skyscrapers. Miranda flew too fast for Alyssa to establish telepathic contact, but Alyssa already knew this wasn’t “patrol” speed. It was “imminent danger” speed.
Ken followed, also with urgency, but Mr. Amazing never could match Ultra Woman’s pace.
Ken? Alyssa projected her thoughts into his mind, a skill she had never wanted to develop and still wasn’t comfortable with. She hoped no other thoughts slipped through. Something going on?
Alyssa?
He hadn’t gotten used to it either. His blank mask looked down, as though he might spot her from thirty stories up.
It’s that guy, the Terran, he thought. We’re on it, though.
The Terran had buried Alyssa alive last time. Ken had saved her. He didn’t want her to need saving again, didn’t want her to hear him thinking that. Distance soon broke the telepathic connection.
The wind picked up, nothing severe, but more than the pleasant breeze that meteorologists had predicted. The scattered sideways raindrops thickened above Alyssa’s head.
Carey zoomed past next, his golden armor catching the sunlight.
The three of them could handle the Terran. They didn’t need Alyssa, not against a misanthrope who could control earth, air, fire, and water. But maybe she could have helped in some way, instead of hiding in a symposium all day.
No, I can’t, she thought, unconsciously flexing her wrist. She couldn’t help, because she had no way of getting there in time to make a difference. But if they still haven’t stopped him by the time I got over there …
—it works. No one notices me.
Alyssa’s head swiveled toward the thinker, and she looked right through her, a blank spot squeezing between pedestrians. The woman walked along the sidewalk, heading in the opposite direction, one hundred percent invisible.
Imperceptible eyes turned toward Alyssa. Wait, does she see me?
Alyssa stretched like she was working out a kink in her neck, then turned toward her colleagues, who had resumed discussing the upcoming seminars in a futile effort to stop worrying about the strange weather.
So, this woman wanted to be invisible while out in public. Alyssa could sympathize, and a nonviolent power was such a refreshing change of pace.
No, she didn’t see me, the unseen woman thought. Good. No one will see me when I kill Pete Peterson.
Instincts kicked in. Alyssa spun around, latched on to the invisible brain, and projected a mental blast.
Too late. The mental blasts required closer quarters, no more than a hundred feet or so. The woman’s brisk pace was already taking her out of range.
Am I getting a migraine? It passed as she kept walking. No, fading already. Weird.
“Alyssa?” Crystal touched her arm, wondering why her co-worker abruptly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
“I forgot my badge,” Alyssa said. “I’m an idiot. I’m going to run home and get that.”
“Oh, hon, you’ll be late,” Bonita said, with a glance skyward. “And caught in a storm too. I’m sure you can ask the event staff for a replacement.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Crystal said, radiating anxiety about wanting to get inside ASAP. “They should be able to do that.”
Please stop helping. “I’d feel more comfortable with the badge,” Alyssa said. “I can make it. Don’t wait for me!”
Before her co-workers could offer any other suggestions, Alyssa rushed down the sidewalk, on her way to find an invisible assassin.
To Be Continued Next Week!